//------------------------------// // The Royal Visit // Story: The One Thing You Allways Find // by Sirixich //------------------------------// Chapter 5: The Royal Visit "Come on everyone! Into the balloon." Twilight was excitedly trotting up to the hot air balloon. Her favorite transport for getting to canterlot and the castle. She had just received the note this morning, inviting them to come and tell Princess Celestia there findings on the human. Especially those mysterious blades, they hadn't found a way to do what he did with the imp, magically form them from thin air. So instead he made some simple holders for them (tools and fabric given to him by Rarity). After everyone was aboard, the hot air balloon roared into life! Floating off the world like a feather in the breeze. Robin was more than excited for this! He was going to have dinner at the princesses castle! Robin looked down at the ground watching it all start to dissapear, he noticed a scarecrow in a nearby field of Applejacks, it looked normal but the head was facing the opposite direction of its body, towards them. Its head was angled up and if it was alive, would have been staring right at him! If he looked closely he could make out a faint smile on the scarecrows head, a smile that deeply disturbed. He turned away to find Applejack, he wanted to ask her about it. "Hey Applejack, what's with that scarecrow in your field? It's staring at us." "Now that ain't right, our scarecrows look forward like normal ponies. Let me take a look" Applejack looked over the edge of the balloon. "What are you talking about? It's facing the right way." Robin looked over back at it, it's head was in the right position, away from them, slightly dangling as if it didn't have enough hay in its head. He gave it one more glance. "That's....Weird" "Aaaah you're just over excited for the party!" Rainbow Dash dove by and pointed out, on her second swoop she shouted. "We're almost at the cloud line! Get ready." "Oh! By the way Robin, I suggest you be on your best behavior and don't do anything crazy." Twilight stated almost like a teacher watching her kids on a field trip. Robin laughed a little."Well I already knew that! But you make it sound especially important Twilight, why?" "Well you see, when you crashed you sort of umm.. Well nearly, you know, killed princess Luna. But don't-" "I NEARLY KILLED PRINCESS LUNA!? Why didn't you tell me that before I got in the balloon? She's going to be mad as all get out when she sees me sitting at the grand banquet hall!" Robin started to pace in the already small basket the balloon carried under it. "Now, now, just calm down. I'm certain she can't be THAT mad." Rarity calmly stated trying to ease the nervousness out of silly Robin. "I'm certain if she wanted to hurt you she might have tried by now." She gave a little smile to this factor. "Thank you Rarity, that helps SOOOOO much!" "Can I finish what I was going to say?" Twilight butted back into the conversation trying to get her words out before another interruption. "Alright, what did you want to say Twilight?" "But don't panic, Celestia has asked you specifically too meet Luna in private, and apologize to her for nearly killing her. She knows it wasn't your fault, but Luna would appreciate that." "You sure in private? No guards, no magical barrier? Just us!?" "Yeah that's right." "Twilight, how will you know if she won't try anything?" "Celestia wrote in parenthesis at the bottom 'Don't worry, it'll be okay'. So I'm assuming she means you won't actually come to harm when talking to her!" Robin thought about this, it did make sense, and Celestia wasn't one to lie to people for no good reason. But this was Luna! The Luna of the moon, who was imprisoned for a thousand years! She could probably hold a grudge. He took a breath, and slowly rolled it out his throat. "That is slightly comforting I'll admit, but I'm still going to be paranoid. You know that right?" "Robin, if you weren't paranoid, then I'd worry." ______________________________________________ The rest of the trip slowly floated along on the pink hot air balloon. When the balloon gently tapped the courtyard of the castle, as lightly as a feather. The group strolled out of the balloon, filled with a never ending excitement, no matter how many times they went to the great castle of Celestia. It always awed them, the sheer beauty of the place. There was always a sense of safety, and happiness in every hall and corner of the castle! After several hallways and passages they finally reached the banquet hall, it seemed so different with only these seven small beings inside this large and amazing hall, with an arched roof reaching the heavens. You will wait here, the princesses will arrive shortly." The guard firmly spat as he left the room, no one knows why. But the guards seem to always be upset! shutting the large, decorated door behind him. The room was silent for awhile, everyone just stared, wondering how amazing it must be to live in this beautiful castle! The sun was shining brightly through the stained-glass windows, reflecting off the shined and polished silver ware. Decorating the room in a rainbow of colors! Finally Robin broke the silence. "Okay, who memorized the way in? I'm gonna guess you Fluttershy?" Everypony immediately looked at him, except Fluttershy who blushed and buried her face in her mane. Confused over such a silly question. Twilight broke the awkward silence. "I do, but why?" "Twilight, I need to know where I'm running if I mess things up and make Luna mad!" The entire band all slapped themselves on the face Unbelievable! He still thinks he might get hurt! Twilight let out an annoyed sigh. . "Robin! You're not going to mess anything up!" "What if I do? Do you think I'm okay with a mad blue pony trying to zap me into dust!?" "Look, do you have any idea how paranoid you are right now?" "Hey, do you think it'd be fun to die? I most certainly don't think so!" "What's all this talk about dying?" With the argument going on among them, no one noticed Celestia and Luna walk in right behind Robin and listen to most of the argument. Celestia had announced the question rather cheerfully, almost like a mother interrupting her child's long conversation. The interruption sent Robin into a shaken, distorted, and stammering position. "OH! Uh, well...." "Yes?" "It was....Uhmmm, that well, you know." Robin wore a weak smile on his now paled face. Luna walked up to him, she was about his height (a little taller than the gang). As she stepped forward, Robin moved back. "Hello Luna! It's so nice to meet you, I'm Robin. It's nice to meet you, hi!" Finally Robin had bumped into the table, unable to continue without getting on the table. Twilight, I knew something bad would happen! If only I listened to Rainbow Dash and just calmed down!. Luna leaned a slight bit forward, she was now right on his personal space bubble; nearly popping it! She started to get a small grin crinkling the corners of her mouth. Luna stared for a minute, it felt like a year to Robin. She pulled her head back and put on a full fledged smile! Giggling to herself. "Ha! I got you." Luna cheerily grinned at the human, she whipped her head around to look at the other ponies. "Hello everyone! I see our human is still not used to our world?" The others giggled at the question, Fluttershy piped in. "We've been trying to make him comfortable...But he's a mad rabbit when it comes to what might happen to him when he goes outside." Now everypony in the room started to loose a joyous laughter! Fluttershy stared at the ground, grinning. Robin was standing there, rather awkwardly Okay, I guess that was funny?. Robin slowly scooted out from between the table and Luna Alright, just gonna look her in the eyes and say I'm sorry, okay, on one. Three, twoo- "Robin, would you please come with me? I want to show you something!" Luna said with a slightly nervous squeak in her voice. God! Da- "I'd be... Happy too." Thank god i didn't finish that last thought! Lunas eyes nearly popped with joy OH THANK THE MOON! She looked over at Pinkie "I get this overabundant joy from you!" With the last little giggle Luna and Robin departed, leaving Celestia and the others in the banquet hall. Robin gave the gang a look stating he'd wished Twilight did give him the directions. They only responded with a big grin and everypony saying! "HAVE FUUUNN!" _____________________________ After walking down the halls the two finally reached the dark blue doors of Lunas chambers, she was about to open them but stopped. "Is something wrong princess?" "I scared you didn't I? You expected me to be mad, and that you would have to grimace at my feet. and beg for mercy, didn't you?" Robin had to look away, that was exactly what he was expecting! But this felt like a friend greeting a long lost companion, someone you haven't seen in years! This was the complete opposite of what he expected! "I'm sorry princess, I just didn't expect you to be sooo, happy." Luna turned her head and looked him right in the eyes, she smiled a little "When you crashed, I was angry, I wanted you gone. Back to where you came from, but my sister showed me a memory she saw in your head when she was inspecting you to find out how you got here. I saw just how much you appreciated me, and my powers." She looked down at her hooves, her blue mane covering her face. "I never thought anyone cared for me, or what I ruled, but then I saw that you did. You cared for what no one else did." She looked up at him, a smile sincere and sweet spread across it. "I'm so glad to have met you Robin." Robin stared for a moment, not knowing what to exactly say. He looked her dead in the face, they both just stood there and stared for a few minutes. Finally Luna spoke up "I brought you to my chambers, because I have a big surprise for you, are you ready?" "Yes, princess." "Please Robin, call me Luna." She opened the door to her room and ushered him in, slowly Robin walked into a completely dark room, once they were both in she closed the door. The room was completely black. Robin could hear her hooves against the floor, until she was right next to him. Her horn slowly came to life, beautiful arks of magic sprout from her horn. The magic slowly went up into the air until several had gathered around a large sphere, all the other arks swooped and wizzed by, planting themselves in other floating entities. finally the room was lit up by a replica moon! All around it constellations, solar systems, and other galaxy's were all lit up above their heads. Slowly it all started to spin, lighting every corner for a brief moment only to roll onto another surface. Robin looked at this marvel above his head, he had always loved seeing panoramas of the moon and space, but this topped them all! He felt as if he were in space, just floating there, watching it all go by. Behind him Luna pulled out the blanket that Robin had been carrying up the mountain when he crashed. When he had fallen, Celestia had taken the liberty of 'securing his equipment'. "I believe this is yours. Shall we sit for awhile? Gaze at the stars in the middle of the day?" She giggled a little at the last part, since it was only 12:30 at noon. "I really do think that's a good idea prin-! I mean, Luna." Luna walked over to Robin and layed the blanket out on the ground. She sat down in a comfortable sitting position, as Robin laid on his back, the same way he did the night he said hello to the moon. After this no words were said, both just laid there, staring up at the most beautiful spectacle either of them had seen. _______________________________ Back at the banquet hall, Celestia had just finished explaining her sisters happiness, and the warning of the book from the sages. After a long dreaded silence, filled with thoughts of Robin or Lunas demise. Applejack looked up at Celestia. "So, what you mean to say is, that after they become best friends, some horrible monsters gonna ruin the whole thing?" Celestia slowly nodded her head "I'm afraid so. There is no way to deny this, either he, or my sister, will die." No one really wanted to say anything after that, in fact they regretted ever eating, nothing was going to cheer them up for a bit. It had been nearly 3 hours since Luna had taken Robin to her quarters. Whatever Lunas surprise was, it must really be something! Pinkie nearly shouted in her mind. I wonder what it could possibly be? Finally she piped up. "Speaking of humans, what in EQUESTRIA! Are those two doing? How amazing was this surprise?" She slumped down into the chair, only her head was visible. "My dear Pinkie, you must understand my sister's forgiving him for what she did. She's also trying to make a friend, and that takes time." Celestia responded gently, assuring Pinkie that he would come back eventually. Twilight was still stumped about this she had more questions. She had to ask them! "But princess, is there any way to avoid either of them from getting killed?" Celestia shook her head solemnly, Twilight could tell she was thinking the same thing. "No, I'm sorry Twilight, to all of you, but there is no way to avoid any of what will occur. All we can do is prepare and hope when it does happen...We are ready for the fate either of them will take." After another long span of silence Celestia finally stood up. "I think it is time you all went home, get some rest my dear ponies." "Wait! What about Robin?" Rainbow Dash had asked. Celestia thought for a minute. "You go on ahead to the balloon, I'll go get him." __________________________________________ Celestia was at the door of her sisters chambers, inside she could hear talking, laughter, and the occasional tap or bump. She is so happy with him here, a friend she can call her own. I'm so sorry your life has been lead in such a horrible fashion until now. I hope you have enough courage for the end. She felt a sudden chill down her spine. A faint, distant voice whispered in a hushed and malignant tone. "So, the boy has finally arrived. My time is at hand!" "Who are you!? Show yourself!" Celestia whipped her head back and forth but no sign of any other being was present. Was that, my imagination? That voice, that being was of a great evil and darkness, just the voice told her that much. Is this the being he must fight? Would he even stand for a minute? Celestia shook this out of her head for the time being. She put on a believable smile, and strolled into Lunas room. "Ohhhhh Luna! It's time for your friend to go." Luna rose up off the blanket and grimaced a little. "Can't he stay a little longer? Or perhaps I could go with them?" "No sister, I'm sorry but you can't" "Well than!" Luna twisted around to Robin who was finishing up folding the blanket. "Will you write me whenever Twilight writes to my sister? We could be pen pals! Until you visit again?" Robin had put the blanket away and walked over to Luna, he wrapped his arms around her neck, giving her a big hug. "Of course I will you silly princess!" Robin left the room with Celestia and Luna leading him back to the hot air balloon. Finally everyone was aboard and the balloon took off, immediately questions flew! What was Lunas surprise? Was it big? Was it crafty? Was it this and that all the way out of earshot. "Sister, thank you so much for everything!" Luna ran up and nuzzled her sisters neck. Celestia missed this, she missed when they could just be sisters, and forgot the horrors of the past. "He will be the ultimate wall of light,against my wreathing shadow. Be warned princess of light. I AM COMING!" "Sister, are you alright?" Celestias skin had become a freezing cold breeze! She shuddered and shook, suddenly she stopped and looked at Luna. "No sister. I'm not alright, I believe I know who will die...When it comes." "When what comes sister?" "Darkness, in it's most truest of forms."